Don Hewitt Essay

"Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick." Televisions across the country emit the eight short, quick ticks of a stopwatch every Sunday night, signaling the start of "60 Minutes." First airing in 1968, the television magazine paved the way for other nightly broadcasts that do more in-depth news pieces. By creating the show, Don Hewitt further modernized how people receive their news, and thus, changed broadcast television history forever. However, it took Hewitt much learning, practice and skill to reach the success that "60 Minutes" brought him. But most importantly, he had to understand what exactly the new medium of television was and what potential it had. According to his Aug. 19, 2009, New York Times obituary, when Hewitt
According to the Times, Hewitt was the first to use headsets at live events so people could be interviewed remotely. He was also the one to popularize putting words on the screen, such as a person's name, so that audiences can better understand what was being discussed. Hewitt played a large role in creating household names of some of the best reporters, as well, coining the term "anchorman," the person who, like the anchor of a relay, "would carry the news home and receive the most attention in the process," the Times said. In a "60 Minutes" profile on Hewitt, CBS News called him the "father of modern television news." From the 1940s until the 1960s, Hewitt produced news shoes that the public could turn to when there was a major event, including the first televised presidential debate in 1960. Hewitt was pioneer in television. He was one of the first ones that could convince society to obtain its news from the T.V. rather than the radio, forever impacting the way television news is produced. And "60 Minutes," now in its 47th season, continues to live on, as does Hewitt's